On This Day in Hockey: 1994

August 30, 1994
The Montreal Canadiens named Kirk Muller as their new team captain. He became the 20th player in team history to wear the 'C' for the Canadiens.

This may seem like a boring event that Eric Zwieg had to come up with just to fill in the summer dates in his book, but there is an interesting story behind it. Kirk Muller was the heart and soul for the New Jersey Devils in the 80s, serving as captain there as well, but when he was traded to Montreal in 1991, he became a fan favourite in Montreal. O-Pee Chee thought he represented the franchise enough that they made him one of the Canadiens' cover players for the OPC Premier '92 line.

 Then in the summer of 1994, Muller was named captain of one of the most storied franchises in the NHL. The 20th captain, no less. Muller loved Montreal, but his time as captain was short, as 33 games into the 94-95 season, Muller was traded to the New York Islanders. He didn't support the trade, and even considered skipping out on Islanders games. He never played a full season for the Isles, and after stops in Toronto and Florida, ended his career on a good note with the Stars.
Muller's glory days were in New Jersey and Montreal, as he hit 94 points twice, setting the record for most points and assists by a Devils player in a game and a most points in a season by a Devils center.

 He scored 30 goals four times in his career and had 4 points for Team Canada at the 1984 Winter Olympics. As Montreal's captain, he scored 19 points in 33 games.
His total career statistics were;
1349 GP
357 G
602 A
959 PTS
1223 PIM

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Best Goalie Masks #6: Montreal Canadiens

         Perhaps the most storied franchise in hockey history, the Montreal Canadiens have had some legendary goalies pass through. Georges Vezina, Bill Durnan, Gump Worsely, Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, and, most recently, Carey Price. Of course, if it weren't for Jacques Plante, I probably wouldn't be writing this post at all. However, the mask itself is not exactly appealing, and brings to mind certain horror films. The best goalie mask of the Montreal Canadiens is...

98-99 JOCELYN THIBAULT

While Jacques Plante's mask is a scary classic, Jocelyn Thibault's mask combines the class of Plante's with the modernity of today. It draws similarities to Carey Price's winter classic mask, however, the somewhat disconcerting eyes and ears on Price's mask make Thibault's much more comfortable to look at. With the 'classic mask' design, Thibault's mask wins for me.

HONOURABLE MENTION:

09-10 CAREY PRICE

While his Winter classic mask is kind of creepy, Price struck gold with this mask from his early years in the NHL. With several music and Montreal icons and the great colours, this mask is very well done.

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Mobile Pack Update

Welcome to my first mobile pack update! This entire post was created on my iPod.

I am currently in Winnipeg, and so I had to visit one of their card stores. The one I went to, Cancentral, was chock full of cards, and I spent around 20 dollars on cards alone, and another 5 on a Beckett magazine.

HIGHLIGHTS:

10-11 Panini Rookie of the Year Contenders John Carlson-A great rare rookie insert.

02-03 Topps Heritage Ilya Kovalchuk-A nice first season card.

04-05 Black Diamond Eric Staal-Another nice first season!

05-06 UD Victory Rookie Mikko Koivu-A great RC too!

05-06 UD Ice Marc-Andre Fleury-Another good RC, all 5 of these cards were 25 cents or less.

07-08 Upper Deck Paul Stastny-And the first season cards keep on rolling.

98-99 SpX Finite Radiance 0303/4750 Trevor Linden-I really liked this card when I saw it and 303 is not a bad number.

14-15 Fleer Eddie Lack-another first season...

80-81 O-Pee-Chee Glenn Resch-My first Chico.

All of these cards I got in one 07-08 Heroes and Prospects pack.

Cody Hodgson-He may not be doing all that great, but I like him.

Milan Lucic-On the other hand, Lucic is definitely not my favourite, but he's doing decently.

Drew Doughty-Awesome junior card of a prime NHL defenseman.

Duals Wendel Clark/Colton Gillies-a nice card showing the history of the Blades.

07-08 Between the Pipes The Rival League Gilles Gratton-Not wearing his trademark mask, but still a great card.

02-03 Upper Deck Zdeno Chara-My first Chara on the Sens.

'97 Limited Counterparts Roman Hamrlik/Nicklas Lidstrom-a nice card, but might be annoying when I'm organizing.

A couple of outdated redemption cards.

And finally....

06-07 Flair Showcase Stitches Miikka Kiprusoff!!!!!

My second ever jersey card, and it's a beauty!

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